Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to apologise for his involvement in the riots on May 9 as the one-year anniversary of the unprecedented clashes approached, a day after the military ruled out dialogue with his party unless they tendered a public apology over the violence. Imran further said if the establishment is not interested in dialogue, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will also not pursue it, reported Dawn.
Imran Khan, who spoke to the media after the court proceedings in the 190 million-pound Al Qadir corruption case at Adiala jail on Wednesday, also said that he was ready to face an inquiry into the sit-in that his Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf party staged in 2014. The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician declined to apologise for the May 9 riots, saying he was under detention at the time and was unaware of those protests.
“I condemned the May 9 incidents in front of (former) chief justice Umar Ata Bandial,” he said, adding that he wanted dialogue with the military for the sake of Pakistan, not a deal for personal favours. The coalition government and the military establishment of Pakistan on Thursday condemned the May 9 riots on its first anniversary and the former dedicated the day to martyrs.
What happened on May 9?
On May 9, the supporters of Imran Khan's party vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The violent protests came in the wake of Imran's arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges. He was later released on bail. Police arrested over 10,000 workers of PTI and hundreds are being tried, including one under the Official Secrets Act. At least 10 people were killed.
Imran was booked in multiple cases related to the violence on May 9, but he has the allegations mentioned in the first information reports (FIRs) of the cases. The former PM was charged with plotting and incitement to violence and was even named in two terrorism cases. The riots are believed to have led to a military-backed crackdown on the PTI, which was barred from contesting the general election directly. The Shehbaz Sharif-led government decided to commemorate the day in solidarity with martyrs and their families with the slogan: "May 9, never again."
Soon after the riots, civil and military leaders last year decided to observe May 9 as “black day” at the national level. Meanwhile, the PTI has planned to organise gatherings across the country to express solidarity with its incarcerated leader, whose brief arrest had triggered the violence. PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan claimed that there was a crackdown on PTI supporters across the country, with dozens arrested in different cities to scuttle their planned protest.
Official position on May 9 riots
PM Shehbaz said there "can absolutely be no soft-pedalling of what happened on May 9" last year and "there can be no absolution for those who orchestrated, supported, and assisted the attempt to damage the foundations of our nation". The premier said on X that “not only were symbols of our national pride and honour attacked but the sanctity of our sacred homeland was also assaulted” on that day.
“On the one hand, there are the great sons of the nation who shed their blood for their homeland, their great families, and the patriotic public. On the other, there are those characters burning in the fire of hatred, who neither have any pain in their heart for state interests nor have any respect or nobility for national monuments, state institutions, the Constitution or the law,” he said in another post..
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement that May 9 will always be remembered as a dark day in Pakistan’s history when a “politically instigated mob ran amok”, damaging public property and military installations. He affirmed that any attempt to misuse these rights to incite violence would never be tolerated.
Pakistan Army's media affairs wing highlighted that bringing the “real culprits of May 9 [riots] to justice” was paramount to ensure no future desecration of the memories of the country’s heroes. “Bringing the real culprits of May 9 to justice is paramount to ensure that in future, no one dares to desecrate the memories of our heroes and the symbols of our unity through such unwarranted conduct in future,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
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